The Promise
by StelenaIsMySunshine
Summary: All human/AU. Elijah Mikaelson's dying wish leads his brother Niklaus (Klaus) to the door of one Hayley Marshall. Klaus and Hayley have a strong bond from the beginning but each fight it. How long can the chasm exist between them? Read on to find out.
1. Chapter 1

**The Promise**

_Niklaus,_

_If you are reading this letter, then you know that I am dead. Although it was not my intention to stay away from the family for this long a time, you must understand why I left New Orleans. You see, I was hungry for something that I believed that I might never find again after Katherine. However I did find that connection - that loving connection - with someone who is so very dear to my heart._

_Her name is Hayley Marshall. She is twenty-five years old. She works as a student nurse at St. Ambrose Hospital in Los Angeles. That is where we met. I know that this will sound impossibly trite, but I believe that I loved her from the moment she first turned those eyes of hers upon me. Eyes that are of a beautiful, almost indecipherable color. Eyes that hold such mystery but also so much hurt._

_I am writing this letter to you now as I overlook the garden from my balcony. Hayley slumbers in the next room. I know that she sleeps fitfully. Much haunts her - things that she has never even told me about. I will tell you that when she said that she loved me too, I was the happiest man who ever walked this earth._

_Time grows short, Niklaus. My doctor has allotted me three months to live. I can assure you though that I am __living.__ Because I know Hayley, I know what it means to truly be __alive._

_I have told Hayley of my desire for her to have family – something that she never has had. I have pleaded with her to come see you and our siblings after I pass from this world. I don't know if she will. She is brave and fearless, but she needs roots, Niklaus. She needs the one thing in life that makes us truly strong: FAMILY. Niklaus, she needs you, Rebekah, Kol and Finn. _

_Niklaus, I am entrusting you to take care of her – to value her and protect her as I cannot. Please be sure that she wants for nothing. Invite her into the Mikaelson fold. Invite her into our home and into your life. Though she does not bear my last name, I think of her as my wife. Please treat her as such._

_Despite all of our many differences over the years; despite the fights we had that seem so utterly trivial now, it is you Niklaus, out of all of our siblings, whom I see the greatest potential for. It is you that I respect most and believe to my equal. I just hope that one day you will let someone past that fortress that you have built so high around yourself. I pray that there might be someone – even one person - who helps you learn to trust. I want you to know that while self-preservation is indeed important, it's not the only way to live. One should never be alone, Niklaus._

_Best wishes, my brother. Do not mourn me for know that I was happy._

_Sincerely your Brother,  
Elijah_

* * *

**Hmm. Will Klaus honor Elijah's dying wish? Let me know what you think and if I should continue this story or not! Thank you.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

A thunderous barking could be heard around the estate. In his study, Klaus smirked as he looked at the clock on the wall. _Noon on the dot. _He knew what that meant. It was Killer's lunchtime. He adored that dog – preferring him to every person in the world. Killer was aptly named too, for he terrorized people and had affection for no one save for Klaus. Rebekah had nicknamed him Klaus's "extremely furry mini-me".

The door burst open and he turned to see a steaming mad Rebekah stomp into the room. "Dammit, Niklaus, that feral beast has got to go! I had to pry his teeth from the postman's leg and nearly lost my fingers for my troubles." She studied his face. "Oh stop grinning like that, like you're proud of the monster. He is a lawsuit waiting to happen."

"Wouldn't be the first one," Klaus said idly. Rebekah slapped a pile of mail down onto the large oak desk. "What have we today?" He thumbed through the stack. "Adverts and more adverts… Hmm a package." He found a small, padded manila envelope at the bottom of the pile.

"Elijah's sent us a missive," Klaus said, flicking it down on the desk.

"Well open it!" Rebekah said and when Klaus didn't, she grabbed for it. She shredded it open. "There are letters for Finn, Kol, you and I. I wonder what he has to say. If he will tell us why he's been away so long."

"I care not, Sister. As far as I'm concerned, he can rot."

Rebekah quickly opened the envelope addressed to her in Elijah's bold scrawl. Klaus dropped into the big leather chair and tossed his legs up onto the desk.

Killer came trotting into the room and immediately went to his master. Klaus scratched the huge Doberman between his pointed ears. "There now. Did you have a nice snack?" The dog just responded by leaning forward, silently demanding more pets. "You little devil," Klaus said with a laugh.

His eyes moved to his sister. She was visibly shaking. Klaus peered closely at her, seeing tears fill her crystalline eyes. "Sister, what seems to be the matter? What does our dear big brother have to say for himself? He's in California now, isn't he? Has he taken to wearing those regrettable things called Birkenstocks and is he slumming it at the beach? Has he-"

"Shut up, Niklaus!" Rebekah thundered.

"Touchy, touchy. I assume Elijah-"

"No, do not assume anything about our brother. In fact, never speak of him again in such a hateful manner." Rebekah's hand trembled and the parchment slipped from her fingers. She sunk onto the huge brocade sofa.

"What has gotten into you, Rebekah? You're acting like someone died."

"Someone has, you ass!" Rebekah hissed. "And it was our brother Elijah!"

"Nonsense," Klaus said. "He's obviously playing a game of some sort. This is his idea of a joke."

"Niklaus, have you ever known Elijah to joke about anything – let alone something so serious? These letters … They're his goodbyes to us. He says clearly that if we have received them, then he is gone."

"Bullshit." Klaus reached for Rebekah's letter and ran his eyes down it. "'Dearest Rebekah…blah… if you're reading this letter, then you know that I'm already … dead.'" Klaus shook his head. "That fucking bastard!"

"He said – he said that he wants me to be happy, to flourish, to find love and grace. He assures me that he had his reasons for keeping this all so quiet."

"Oh yes, I am sure that he did." Klaus dropped Rebekah's letter and reached for the envelope with his name clearly spelled out on it. He ripped into it and read it. Each word set his teeth more on edge. "Fucking bitch," Klaus cursed. "He really is gone."

"Yes," Rebekah cried, rubbing a hand across her wet cheeks. "I guess he did not wish for us to see him withering up but … This is truly the cruelest thing he has ever done. And he's never been a cruel man."

"Blame it on the bitch," Klaus snarled.

"You mean the woman he mentioned in my letter? Hayley, was it?"

"That is exactly who I mean. She must have convinced him to stay quiet about his failing health for her own twisted purposes."

"What purposes might those be?"

"To bilk him out of money, no doubt." Klaus balled the letter up and hurled it across the room.

"Whatever their motivations, I am hurt, Niklaus. And I know deep down, that you are too."

Klaus shook his head. "No, I'm not. If he did not deign to let us know what he was going through… To die without giving us so much as an indication that he was ill… Well then, I hope he's burning in hell."

"Niklaus!"

"Don't pretend, Rebekah, that you aren't as maddened by this whole debacle as I am."

"I am, of course I am, but I would never condemn out brother to eternal darkness, to fire and brimstone and all of that shit."

Klaus waved his hand dismissively. "Fine, waste your tears on a man who didn't give a fuck about you, Rebekah. That is your decision but I will never be tied down to that sentiment. Meanwhile, I call dibs on giving Finn and Kol the 'heartbreaking' news."

"You're so cruel."

"No, that was Elijah." He tapped his thigh and whistled to Killer. The dog obediently trotted to him and they disappeared out the study door.

Rebekah allowed herself a very brief cry for she had always thought of tears as a weakness. Even though her heart was breaking, she would trudge on as she always had.

Shakily, she pulled herself to her feet and started for the door. Then she spotted Niklaus's letter crumpled up in the corner. Curiosity got the better of her and she went to pick it up.

XoXoXo

Rebekah tried to sleep that night but it was impossible. She kept picturing Elijah as he slipped away, into oblivion, where she could never hope to reach him. Though she loved her brother, she wasn't sure that she would ever understand what he had done.

She rubbed her eyes and rolled over in her four-posted bed to look at the clock. The red numbers told her it was well after three a.m. Realizing that she would get no relief that slumber might bring, she decided to head downstairs. In the darkness, she found her silk robe and cinched it around her trim waist.

She padded down the grand staircase and soon spotted a light on in the kitchen. Klaus was sitting at the table, pounding away at the keys on his expensive laptop. A big bottle of scotch, mostly drained, sat beside him. Killer slept at Klaus's feet, snoring loudly.

"Niklaus, what are you doing?" Rebekah asked, moving over to him.

"Can't sleep, Sister dear?" He asked, not looking at her.

"No. I just keep thinking-"

"I know. You're thinking of Elijah and what he did."

"How can I not?" Rebekah asked. "I miss him so much already. I somehow thought that we would see each other again."

"And he cheated you out of that. I command you not to shed another tear for him."

"You command me?" Rebekah scoffed. "Your many minions may fall into line when you snap your fingers but I am not so easily intimidated."

Klaus ignored her this time as he pounded on the keys. Rebekah peered at him. "Whatever has you so transfixed?"

"I am looking for information on the devilress."

Rebekah shook her head. "The woman he loved – Hayley?"

"Hayley Marshall," Klaus said. "I am looking for anything –"

"That can be used against her."

"Why not? She robbed us, Rebekah. You know she did."

Klaus kept typing on the keys. "Dammit. Nothing. Not so much as a Twitter or Facebook page. Who doesn't have one of those these days?"

"You don't."

"I have neither the time nor the deposition for it. All people do is post regrettable selfies and share their troubles of which no one really gives a flying fuck about. Social media is made for the weak-minded."

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Maybe this Hayley feels the same as you do."

"Or maybe she's hiding something."

"So suspicious you are, Niklaus."

"How can I not be?

"A-ha!" Klaus said. "The website for St. Ambrose Hospital has a listing about her." Klaus made a few clicks and then he was looking at a picture of a brunette with eyes that, as Elijah had called them in his letter, were an almost indecipherable color. She had high cheekbones and a soft olive complexion. Klaus read down the page. All it said was her name, her credentials and that she worked on the oncology unit.

"Cancer," Klaus surmised. "Elijah had cancer and he didn't see fit to tell us. I blame it on _her._ She must be some kind of voodoo woman. There could be no other explanation for Elijah abandoning the family this way - going off to die somewhere, like the cowardly lion."

"Well Elijah never could resist a pretty face and by the looks of her, she _is_ a beauty."

"I much prefer blondes," Klaus said darkly. "But you do make a point. She obviously used her 'assets' to entrap our brother. He was sick and vulnerable and –"

"Elijah?_ Vulnerable? _Not at all. He was strong man. He always was the strongest man I ever knew."

Klaus growled at his sister. "And just what am I – a weakling? Or chopped liver, maybe?"

"Don't go fishing for compliments, Niklaus. The point is that Elijah was very good to us, even when sometimes we didn't deserve it. And yes while I'm miffed and hurt that he called you his equal and said you have the most potential out of all of us, it is what it is."

"You read his to me letter then."

"Yes," Rebekah said with no shame. "I was looking for answers."

"We'll never get them now."

"We can from …_her…_ I want to honor Elijah's wishes, Niklaus."

"If you mean to invite his _whore_ into our family home you can just forget it," Klaus thundered.

"That's what Elijah wanted, Niklaus."

"Did either of them care what we wanted?_ No."_ He peered at the picture of his brother's lover once more. "She's a voodoo woman," he repeated. "An enchantress who severely fucked with Elijah's sickly mind."

"You don't really believe that."

Klaus stared at the picture of the little nurse. "Come to think of it, she does look very fuckable. That's what she did - used her feminine wiles to rope Elijah in when he was at his most feeble."

"She made him happy! And he thought of her as his wife, per his letter to you. You don't even know her. As much as I want to blame her; to hate her even, I won't let you badmouth her."

"I know what I need to know, Sister. And I know she will never be a part of this family. She will never get a red penny from me which is no doubt what she's after."

Rebekah shook her head. "Not everyone desires money and power the way you do, brother. Some people just crave love. She made Elijah happy and gave him peace and for that I resolve not to hate her."

"Since when did you become such a fucking bleeding heart? I always believed, despite your pathetic choice in men, that you had a good head atop your shoulders. Not only will I now question your smarts, but your sanity too."

"You little shit!"

"You're getting angry, Bekah. Good. You should be. We were all robbed and it's time to make someone pay." Klaus jumped up from his seat so fast that he nearly overturned his chair. Killer stared at him groggily as Klaus stomped from the room. Rebekah rolled her eyes and followed her brother into his study.

"What are you doing?" Rebekah asked. She watched him reach for the telephone. "Who are you calling at this hour?"

"Our friendly family pilot," Klaus said. "I am going to Los Angeles. You want answers, Rebekah. Well, I want revenge and I mean to have it. Since I can't kill Elijah again, I will settle for making this Hayley's life miserable."

"You're evil."

Klaus smiled. "Why yes, Sister, I am."

_**Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and alerts so far. It means so much. Klayley fans are the best!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**I hope this chapter is okay. Updates to my other stories are coming soon, by the way.**_

_**Feedback, por favor!**_

**Chapter 2**

Rebekah had no choice but to follow Klaus to Los Angeles. She knew she would have to do damage control where Klaus was concerned, a job that had always fallen to Elijah, but he was of course, gone. She hated that he was dead; hated that he had not let her say "goodbye" but she could never actually hate him. For she had admired and loved him from the moment she was old enough to understand what a great man he was. While she might never understand why he did what he did, she would honor him. She would force Niklaus to do the same.

Klaus had spent most of the flight downing vodka as if his life depended on it. Rebekah, meanwhile, sat in her seat swirling a tumbler of brandy with her finger. She badly wanted to take the edge off and get shitfaced drunk but knew she must be on high-alert at all times.

Klaus turned to face her after pouring still another drink. How was it that he could remain stone-cold sober following drink after drink? Maybe he was just a damn good pretender. Yes, that must be it. The Great Deceiver, _Niklaus Mikaelson._

"Rebekah, wipe that look off your face. You look positively constipated."

"Bite me, Niklaus," Rebekah sneered. Klaus just chuckled.

"I wonder what she's like," Klaus mused.

"Hayley?"

"Who else?"

"I don't know. We'll find out soon enough, won't we? I am sure she's a good person or our brother could not have trusted her with his fate."

"He was no doubt blinded by his libido and her dubious charms. She's probably just another Katherine."

"I don't know about that. I believe Elijah learned his lesson after being burned by Katherine so badly so many times. Hayley must be different."

"You used to be such a cynic," Klaus said with a shake of his head. "I miss that about you. Cynicism is the only way to live. If you let your guard down for a moment, you are just asking to be stabbed in the back."

"Speaking of letting one's guard down, I do believe Elijah said in his letter to you that he wished for you to let down –what was it? Oh yes, the fortress that you have erected so high around you. He wants you to learn how to trust people, Klaus."

"I trusted him. Even when I was livid that he left New Orleans …"

"Oh, Niklaus."

Klaus shook his head. "But I don't anymore."

"You miss him though."

Klaus scoffed. "Not at all."

"Liar."

Klaus growled. "Shut up, Rebekah."

"You know, Niklaus, I see the truth about you now. I always thought that you were an unfeeling little shit but now-"

"This should be interesting."

"I see that it's not that you feel nothing. Rather, it's that you feel _too_ much and can't handle it."

Klaus chuckled. "I see you've been reading those self-help books again."

"Niklaus, admit that you're devastated about Elijah's death. Then maybe we can begin to heal as a family."

Klaus's eyes stormed, becoming noticeably darker and stormy. "What family? We all look out for ourselves, first, last, _always._ None of you have any loyalty to me."

"Bull shit! I have stuck by you, Niklaus. Even when you made it impossible. Even when you tried your hardest to drive me away. Even when you treated me terribly and drove away pretty much every man I've ever cared for. Even when you hurt me immeasurably, I stayed at your side and dealt with your, shall we say, 'eccentricities'. If that is not loyalty, what is it then?"

"Perhaps you're just a glutton for punishment."

Rebekah growled at him. "Perhaps I honored and loved you as a sister should. And if you care a whit about me, you will leave Hayley alone. You will invite her into our lives and into our home, just as Elijah asked."

"She has to pay."

"For loving and caring for Elijah in his last days?"

"For messing with his head."

"We don't know that she did. Besides, our brother always had a mind of his own. I don't believe any old illness could rob him of his intelligence. He truly believes what he did was the right thing. And I shall learn to accept his decision, as you should."

"I never will, so don't waste your breath, Rebekah."

XoXoXo

They landed within the hour. A town car was idling at the curb as they touched down. Klaus had had one of his minions rent it for them.

"Where would you like to go?" The driver asked. He held the passenger door open for the siblings.

"To St. Ambrose Hospital," Klaus said and climbed in. Rebekah slid onto the seat next to him. Their driver got into the front and pulled out into traffic.

"I forgot how much I hate Los Angeles," Klaus said. "Traffic, smog, people with obnoxious, orange tans, prancing around in tiny swimwear as if they believe that others actually want to see them like way."

"It's not that bad and the beach is not too far away. I should like to get a tan."

"You don't tan."

"I can try."

"That's rather like beating your head against a rock expecting something that will never happen, isn't it?"

"Hmm, sounds familiar."

"It's true. We Mikaelsons are a stubborn lot." He pursed his lips. "Must have come from our mother since as you know, I was born a bastard."

"Niklaus-"

"No, don't say anything. It does not bother me."

Rebekah raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Don't question or psycho-analyze me, Rebekah."

Rebekah rolled her eyes and stared out the window in silence. All too soon, they were arriving at the entrance of the hospital.

"Dear god," she muttered. This was likely to be awful and she would be in the thick of it. If Elijah were here, he'd know what to do but he was not. He had left them all in a very precarious situation. Rebekah only could hope that she could keep Klaus from murdering someone.

"Sister, what do you know? We're here," Klaus said with a cheeky grin.

"So we are."

"You can always go ahead to the hotel…"

" I don't think so. I will be here to make sure you do not do something you can't take back."

"If you're worried I will physically attack her, don't. I'm not a total brute. Besides, there are many ways to make a person suffer," Klaus said with an ever-widening grin. "So many ways."

XoXoXo

Klaus and Rebekah rode up in the elevator to the fourth floor. _The cancer wing._

"It's quiet in here," Rebekah remarked.

"Sure it is. This is where people come to die."

"Niklaus, do be quiet. I already have a giant headache thanks to you."

Rebekah took a deep breath as she followed Klaus off of the elevator. She looked around. The walls were painted in a soft, lulling yellow and though she could hear machines beeping in the distance, it didn't seem like too-horrible of a place. Still, her heart broke thinking of Elijah spending his last days here. She blinked her eyes to chase away the moisture gathering there.

Klaus strode to the nurse's desk. A woman with graying hair was there, idly flipping through some charts. She looked up as Klaus came to a stop in front of her. He flashed his most charming smile. "Hello there," he said. "Might you tell me where I can find Ms. Hayley Marshall?"

The nurse looked at him skeptically for a moment. Finally, she nodded. "She's with a patient down the hall. As soon as she's done-"

Klaus didn't let her finish. He was already striding away. Rebekah waved to the woman. "Thank you," she said, annoyed by Klaus's behavior.

The woman just sighed and turned back to her charts. Perhaps she sensed that she was better off not trifling with Klaus.

Klaus moved down the hall, looking into every room. Rebekah kept her eyes trained on his back, wanting to keep him in sight, but also not wanting to see all of the sick people in their beds. She wondered if Elijah had suffered very much at the end.

Klaus suddenly came to a stop outside a room. Room 415, Rebekah noted.

"There's the vixen Hayley," Klaus said. Rebekah came to stand beside him and too gazed through the window. The dark-haired beauty from the picture they had seen, stood beside the bed of a very bald woman. Rebekah felt beyond intrusive listening to them talk but she couldn't seem to help it.

"How are you feeling today, Mrs. Marks?" Hayley asked the woman. She had a soft, somewhat husky voice.

"Alright, I suppose," Mrs. Marks replied quietly. "But you know what Dr. Fell said-"

Hayley nodded and reached for the woman's hand. "I do."

"So my husband will pick me up this afternoon and take me home to-" Mrs. Marks bottom lip trembled and she burst into tears. "I'm not ready to die, to leave behind my kids and my beloved."

Hayley nodded in understanding. She wasted no time pulling Mrs. Marks into a gentle hug. Rebekah nudged Klaus in the arm and whispered, "She seems okay to me."

"Well-rehearsed," Klaus answered, keeping his eyes trained on Hayley's every move.

"We shouldn't be watching this, Niklaus. It's much too private a moment."

"I am not leaving here, Rebekah," Klaus said.

"Klaus-" Rebekah started then broke off as she saw Mrs. Marks's eyelids slowly flutter shut. Hayley gently eased the woman back onto her bed.

"Sleep for now, Mrs. Marks, " Hayley said in a soft, broken voice.

She then turned and headed for the door. She raised her eyebrows in suspicion as she spotted Klaus and Rebekah standing there. "Can I help you?"

"Actually, I believe you can," Klaus answered.

A slightly chunky young woman in pink scrubs suddenly appeared at the end of the hall, waving frantically to Hayley. "Mr. Jones threw up –everywhere… _Help me?"_ She pleaded.

"Sure, April," Hayley said. She started to scoot around Klaus and Rebekah but Klaus grabbed her by the arm.

"Excuse me," she hissed.

"I'm not done with you yet, luv," Klaus said darkly.

"Well unless you want to grab a sponge and help me clean up chunks of vomit, then you'll have to wait," Hayley snapped and yanked free. She then turned and hurried down the hall, disappearing into Mr. Jones room.

Klaus looked at Rebekah. _"Feisty._ I'll give her that much," he murmured.

Rebekah saw a glint in his eye and shook her head. "What the hell are you planning?"

Klaus smirked now. "You'll have to wait and see."


End file.
